Technological advancement gives rise to a multitude of electric appliances, such as electric fans, rice cookers, stereo systems, computers and the like. Although these electric appliances can bring a lot of convenience to the quality of human life, the resulting power consumption thereof continuously escalates. Despite the power-saving feature addressed by the improved new generation of electric appliances, many conventional electric appliances having high power consumption are ubiquitous in everyone's daily life.
Hence, a power control device disclosed by a Taiwanese Utility Model Patent Number M376989 serves to perform signal setup, editing, timing and control setup by using a circuit board of a control module to connect an control element to external default electronic device through a connection interface so as to transmit signals to a signal transmitter disposed in an power socket through a signal transfer unit. The signals received by the signal transmitter are further sent to relays to control the relays and switch on or off one or multiple power sockets. By using the control module to switch on or off the power sockets, the purpose of switching on and off or controlling preset electric appliances electrically connected with the power sockets can be achieved.
An electrical power distribution system disclosed by a patent publication number of the world intellectual property organization WO2005CA01549 serves to connect to power sources of electric appliances so as to perform a distribution scheme in limiting and breaking current to electric appliances. The system has a PCD tag disposed on an electric appliance or attached with the power cord of the electric device for connection with a power socket having a corresponding PCD reader for power acquisition. The PCG tag is stored with data associated with electric appliances therein and the data can be read and stored by the PCD reader and primarily include data for a rated load of the electric appliance. Furthermore, the system further has a switch for connecting and disconnecting with a power socket. Accordingly, the system can measure a load class of an electric appliance and provide a breaking signal from the control circuit based on an excess between the actual load of the electric appliance and a corresponding rated load to break the power supply off the electric appliance.
Although the foregoing two conventional devices can achieve the purpose of switch control and power management to electric appliances, the reconfiguration of an electronic device when the electronic device is plugged in another power socket or used in another environment causes inconvenience in management. Additionally, in practice only certain electric appliances can be controlled and limited in terms of power supply while actual power consumption of all electric appliances in a power supply region fails to be effectively tracked. The collected power consumption information is incomplete and thus infeasible as the reference to a new generation of intelligent power grid for remotely monitoring and managing power consumption at any time. As a result, the drawback fails to effectively improve management in power transmission and power supply.